Hung Cao, the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia, disparaged people who are tolerant of drag queens by implying Wednesday that they are not tough enough to serve in the military.
The remarks came during a televised debate against Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine when one of the moderators asked Cao about his previous comments tying what he called the White House’s “growing obsession with” diversity, equity and inclusion to military recruitment issues. Cao, a Navy veteran, was asked to explain how he believes DEI could impact military recruitment.
“When you’re using a, you know, drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said after being pressed on the issue following his initial response. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”
During President Joe Biden’s administration, the Navy reportedly had a Digital Ambassador Pilot Program for recruitment that included a 2nd class petty officer who also performed in drag, prompting Republican pushback. The program ended in April 2023 and was not continued, the under secretary of the Navy wrote in a letter to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who had objected to the program.
When reached for comment on the debate remarks, Cao’s campaign responded with a statement from the candidate saying, “I just said what everyone believes as fact.”
He then reiterated his response from the debate while adding that men and women who “rip out their own guts” are the ones who “are going to win wars. Not drag queens.”
Cao has posted a clip of the exchange to his X account, threading a link for supporters to donate to his campaign.
According to his campaign website, Cao is a retired Navy captain who served with special operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. He also had non-combat assignments in collaboration with the Navy, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
His comments Wednesday came during a discussion of the military’s history of failure to meet its recruitment goals in recent years.
In Kaine’s response, the Virginia senator said that he “didn’t understand my opponent’s argument.”
Kaine, who was former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, said that the military needed to reach out to new constituencies and convince people about the benefits of military service.
“‘DEI’ is a red herring,” Kaine added.
Cao was endorsed by former President Donald Trump during the Senate GOP primary; he later spoke at the Republican National Convention.
The Cook Political Report, which examines the competitiveness of congressional seats and the presidential race, characterizes the Virginia Senate seat as “solid” Democrat.
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